Chapter Text
Sprout found himself in quite the predicament. Cosmo’s birthday was in a week, and Sprout wanted to make something really special for him. The main problem? He wanted whatever he did to be a surprise until it was actually his birthday. That would be incredibly difficult, what with how attached at the hip the two were. They only separated when runs dictated, at this point rarely even sleeping in separate rooms. They were always sleeping over at one or the other’s room, alternating between who hosted every now and then. Because of this, Cosmo’s sleeping bag was permanently in Sprout’s room, and Sprout’s in Cosmo’s. Thankfully, Sprout’s extra-cushy Main room meant they had extra pillows to throw around, sometimes literally. They had quite a few more pillow fights than Sprout would’ve liked, considering he didn’t want to hurt Cosmo, physically or emotionally.
Which was why this birthday gift had to be perfect. If it wasn’t, it might just hurt their friendship. Or, at least, that’s what Sprout thought. He didn’t want to risk anything, because it wasn’t just a birthday gift to him. No, he was going to use this as an opportunity to say the one thing he’d been too afraid to tell his best friend.
He was going to confess his love.
On Cosmo’s birthday.
Alongside his birthday gift.
‘What a great plan,’ Sprout thought to himself, a sarcastic tone tinging the sentence. ‘If I mess this up, I ruin his birthday, too. Possibly forever.’ Sprout was always his own biggest critic when it came to things he deemed important, though. Surely things would go perfectly, and he had nothing to worry about. The only thing he had to worry about then was what to make for his present.
He knew Cosmo loved baking—it was his primary role, after all—so it had to be something baked. Sprout decided on a chocolate-strawberry cake, decorated to look like Cosmo, with homemade sprinkles that matched the ones on his cheeks. That would mean he would have to find a sprinkle recipe in a cookbook somewhere. The next time he was in the library, without Cosmo, he started looking through all the cookbooks they had.
One of these looked pretty old, and had some weird-sounding recipes. Lots of gelatin involved. No sprinkle recipe. Next. Again, no sprinkles. Nor were they to be found in the next one. Or the next. Sprout was about to give up hope, when he heard a soft voice behind him.
“Looking for something in particular, Sprout?” Brightney came around the corner, holding a stack of books.
“Ah, yeah. I’m looking for a cookbook with a sprinkle recipe, but I can’t find any. You wouldn’t happen to have a cookbook in that stack, would you?” Sprout looked hopeful. This was his last chance, or at least what he perceived as his last chance.
“Why, yes, I do.” Brightney gently put the stack of books on a nearby chair, looking down the row of spines. “Ah-ha! Here we go.” She carefully pulled one out from the middle, handing it over to Sprout. “Let’s hope it has what you need!” Sprout scanned through the table of contents, looking for any mention of sprinkles… And sure enough, he found it.
“Yes! Thank you, Brightney!” Sprout looked up from the book, beaming. Brightney smiled, happy to have been able to help. “Let’s see, page 42… Wait.” Sprout leaned closer to the book, as if it would help him comprehend what he was reading any better. “It’s just a royal icing recipe! Sprinkles are just royal icing?” Brightney shrugged, not having delved too deep into the cookbooks in Gardenview’s collection. “That’s… a bit of a relief, honestly. I thought I was going to have to beg Dyle to do a special shipment with something we weren’t getting already. We’ve made royal icing so many times, and I know we have the ingredients.” Brightney gave a little clap, happy for Sprout. Although, Cosmo was the one who had the recipe memorized. Sprout stood up, holding the book to his chest. “Thank you so much again for your help, Brightney. Is it alright if I borrow this?”
“Of course, just make sure to bring it back in good condition.” Brightney smiled. Sprout gave her a quick side-hug before running off to return to the kitchen. If he wanted to make these while Cosmo was away, he had to hurry. He wasn’t sure when he’d be getting back from his run. Getting to the kitchen, he gently placed the book on the counter, open to the page with the recipe. He quickly gathered the ingredients, bowls, and instruments needed to make star-shaped sprinkles in the colors of the ones on Cosmo’s cheeks. Powdered sugar, meringue powder, water. One of the most simple icings, and here he was, worried he’d mess it all up. It was fine, this was only step one, and he still had a week. The hardest part was going to be the cake, making sure it stayed fresh and moist for however long he had to wait. And the strawberries, he hoped they didn’t make the cake mushy…
Alright, icing was on the wax paper. Thin stars, both medium-sized and as small as he could make them while still looking like stars, all in the three correct colors. He’d spent so long staring at those adorable cheeks that he was fairly confident he got them right. Now the sprinkles only had to harden for… eight hours? Preferably overnight? Cosmo wouldn’t be gone for much longer, and there was nowhere in the kitchen where he could hide them without Cosmo potentially finding them.
There was one Toon he had in mind to help him, though.
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“So that’s why you have to let me store these in here until Cosmo’s next run.” Sprout stood in front of Looey’s door, tray of sprinkles in one hand, and a plastic container in the other.
“Why did you come to me specifically?” Looey looked confused. There were so many other Toons he could’ve gone to, so why pick him?
“Well, I’d consider you pretty trustworthy. Plus, Cosmo has no reason to come down here. You’re on a completely different floor from him, even if we weren’t sleeping over in my room this week.” Sprout rubbed the back of his head. “Also, I was hoping I could also ask you to distract Cosmo the day before his birthday so I could make and decorate the cake…” He figured that the cake would be freshest if it was made on the actual day, but Cosmo would probably want to spend time with him then, so the day before would have to do. “You’re a performer, you’re great at distractions!”
“I see…” Looey thought for a moment, making Sprout even more nervous. “...Well, you’ve done a lot for me on runs, and if it’s for Cosmo’s birthday then I can do my best.” Sprout had to keep himself from jumping for joy.
“Thank you so much, Looey. You have no idea how much this means to me.” Sprout handed over the tray and container, which Looey stored on a shelf in his room. “Gosh, just, thank you.”
“How long should I distract him for?” Looey wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.
“Um, maybe an hour and a half? I know that’s a long time, but the cake has to bake and cool and all that.” Sprout rubbed his arm nervously.
“That’s… Hoo boy, alright. That’ll take some thought, okay.” Looey sighed. “I can do it.”
“Thank you so much again.” Sprout gave him a quick hug before turning to leave.
“Hey, for Cosmo, yeah?” Looey put a hand on Sprout’s shoulder.
“Yeah. For Cosmo.”
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“...And then Yatta almost got hit again while trying to pick her candy up off the floor!” Cosmo was relaying what happened in his last run to Sprout. They both had to do multiple runs that week, which was exhausting, but it had to be done. It was the day before Cosmo’s birthday, though, and neither had any important tasks to do. At least, that’s what Cosmo thought. Sprout, on the other hand, was waiting for Looey to come distract Cosmo so he could get to baking. Right as the two were about to reach the elevator, Looey came running from behind them.
“Cosmo!” The two stopped walking, and Looey caught up with them. “Hey! I need your opinion on something, can you come downstairs for a bit?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. Come on, Sprout!” Cosmo reached out and grabbed Sprout’s hand, who immediately started blushing. This was not good. He had to think of some excuse to get out of going with Cosmo, even if his hand in his felt incredible.
“Sprout!” A voice called from down the hall. It was Astro, walking up to the group. “There’s an important meeting going on, Mains only.” Now what was wrong?
“Oh, uh, okay. Sorry, Cosmo. Go have fun with Looey’s thing.” Sprout was never going to make this cake at this rate. He reluctantly let go of Cosmo’s hand, following Astro down the hall as Looey and Cosmo got into the elevator. Once they were far enough away, Astro stopped, sighing.
“Okay, I think you’re in the clear. There is no meeting, I just wanted to help separate you from Cosmo.” What?
“You’re in on this? But how did you…?” Sprout was confused. There should’ve been only one Toon who knew about the plan.
“Looey asked for my help, in case he wasn’t able to get Cosmo away from you.” Astro smiled slightly.
“Th-Thank you!” This was unexpected, but entirely not unwelcome.
“Go ahead and take the stairs, just in case they’re still in the elevator. It’ll be faster.” Astro gestured towards a pair of doors with his head.
“I didn’t even realize we had stairs. You’d think with how long I’ve been here…” Sprout chuckled, shaking his head. “Okay, off I go!” He went through the doors, seeing a sign leading to the stairs. Huh. That was convenient. Sprout made it to the kitchen in record time, almost tripping down the stairs a couple times in his haste. Everything was where it was supposed to be. Looey had remembered to bring the sprinkle container down here, all the ingredients were in their respective spots, it was time to bake.
Now, baking wasn’t Sprout’s specialty, Cosmo had him beat in that department, but he could still make a cake. Preheat the oven. The strawberry filling was first. Strawberries, sugar, lemon juice. Cook that until it gelled. Airtight container. Let cool in the fridge for an hour.
Dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, carefully adding the wet once the dry were whisked together, mixing everything until it was a nice, even consistency. He had done this with Cosmo for many a birthday party, and he could do it just as well on his own. Prepare the cake rings, fill with batter, slip in the oven to bake. He even set a timer to tell him when to take the cake out of the oven so he wouldn’t burn it.
Sprout didn’t wait a second after making sure everything else was set before he went and made the buttercream for the outside of the cake. He would need four colors. Dark brown, for the swirl on top, and blue, green, and magenta for the outside—just like his socks. He even memorized the order of the stripes so he could recreate it perfectly. The colors mixed were an exact match for the sprinkles, and he put each of them into its own piping bag.
Everything was going smoothly.
Until it wasn’t.
The timer went off, and Sprout went to check on how done the cake was. He stuck the toothpick in and… still wet batter. That was fine, it just had to go longer. The strawberries needed more time, anyway. He set the timer for another half an hour, so he’d know when to take the strawberries out. The cake only needed a few more minutes anyway, who could it hurt if he timed it himself?
Sprout couldn’t wait for Cosmo to see what he had made him. He was going to be so impressed, and Sprout’s confession was going to go off without a hitch. Cosmo was going to reciprocate, and everything would be happy forever. All because this cake was going to be perfect.
What Sprout couldn’t see, as he was lost in his daydream, is that it had been far past a few minutes, and the cake was still in the oven. He was so lost, in fact, that he hadn’t seen the smoke starting to pour out of the door.
“Sprout!” A door slammed open, the door to the stairs. Looey ran over, gasping for air. “He figured your meeting would’ve been done by now, and went to find you! I don’t know if he’s coming here, but… Why is your oven smoking?” Sprout snapped out of his daydream, whipping around to see that yes, there was smoke coming out of his oven.
“No!” Sprout grabbed the oven mitts that were on the counter next to the oven, opening it to reveal a cloud of smoke. His cake was completely burnt. “No…” He took the cake layers out of the oven, setting them on the counter. Inedible, and now Cosmo was probably going to look for him here. His entire gift was ruined. His plan was ruined. Everything else turned out fine, but he wasn’t going to have a cake to decorate in time. As if on cue, the elevator dinged, door opening to reveal Cosmo.
“Sprout! There you are! What are you doing here? Is something burnt? There’s no fire, right?” Cosmo walked towards Sprout, who held out a hand.
“Stop! Y-You can’t see this. It’s ruined.” Sprout looked on the verge of tears.
“What’s ruined?” Cosmo walked over anyway, looking at the scene before him. “Were you trying to bake something yourself?” Sprout nodded silently. “But why?”
“It was…” Sprout sighed. “It was a birthday cake. For you, for tomorrow.” Cosmo’s eyes lit up, and his hands went to his mouth.
“You were doing all that… for me? Oh, Sprout…” Cosmo rushed over, giving Sprout a hug. “Thank you.”
“But, it’s ruined! You can’t thank me!” Sprout protested.
“I just did, didn’t I?” Cosmo giggled, and Sprout’s heart jumped in his chest. “Thank you, again. For putting in the effort, even if it didn’t go as planned.” He looked up at the taller Toon. “And hey, everything else is right, right?” Sprout nodded. “Then I don’t see why we can’t try again tomorrow.”
“W-We?”
“Yeah, we. I’ll help you this time. With the cake, at least. You can decorate it how you want, and it’ll still be a surprise.” Cosmo smiled, stepping away from Sprout, only to grab his hand. “That sound good?”
“Yeah.” Sprout nodded, smiling. He wanted nothing more than to scoop Cosmo up in his arms and kiss him in that moment, but he restrained himself. Love confessions were a birthday activity. Instead, he squeezed his hand, and got a squeeze in return. That had to have been good enough to hold him over until the next day. “I’ll, uh, put all of this away. You’ve already seen too much, but there’s still one thing you haven’t seen.” Sprout shooed Cosmo away, who just started giggling.
“Alright, alright… Meet you upstairs?” Cosmo walked into the elevator he was just in.
“My room, half an hour, be there.” Sprout smiled.
“Alright, alright,” Cosmo laughed. “I’ll meet you up there.” Cosmo waved before the elevator door shut, leaving Sprout alone.
“Um, I guess I should probably head out, too.” …Sprout had completely forgotten Looey was there.
“Oh! Right! Yes! Thank you for all of your help, even if it didn’t turn out perfect.” Maybe the new plan was the perfect one. The one where he got to spend time with Cosmo on his birthday, doing what Cosmo loved most. With the one Sprout loved most. He’d tell him after he cut into the cake.
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“Alright, I just need the hot water.” Cosmo had Sprout fetch ingredients for him while he did all of the mixing.
“Hot water, coming in, well, hot.” Sprout laughed sheepishly at his own joke. Cosmo held back a laugh.
“Dork.” Cosmo looked at him, affection in his eyes. Or maybe Sprout was just reading into it. Gosh, was he nervous. Sprout poured the hot water into the measuring cup, letting Cosmo pour it into the bowl. Now he just needed to mix, and pour the batter into the cake molds. Things seemed to be going off without a hitch, for real this time. He set the timer, accounting for the extra time he tried to give it last time, and he and Cosmo waited.
“So… What do you wanna do after the cake’s done?” Sprout looked over at Cosmo, who was leaning against the counter. He wasn’t sure why he was asking, he knew his answer would change depending on how he reacted to the confession.
“We could watch something in your room? Or hog the projector room to see it on the big screen.” Cosmo chuckled, Sprout following suit.
“Yeah, that sounds fun.” Sprout felt a knot in his gut. He wasn’t going to chicken out, he told himself. “What would you wanna watch?”
“I heard Finn got himself a horror movie.” Cosmo’s grin turned mischievous. “Maybe we could ask to borrow it?”
“Ooh, I don’t know, Cosmo, can you handle it?” Sprout smirked. Cosmo responded by walking over and nudging him, both laughing.
They talked for a while as the cake baked, conversation bouncing all over the place. Mostly gossip about the other Toons, because honestly, what else was there to talk about, really? Eventually, the cake was finished, toothpick coming out with wet crumbs.
“Perfect. Alright, now to let these cool so I can decorate.” Sprout stood over the layers, satisfied with a job well done so far.
“Should I leave now, or can I stay until they’re cool?” Cosmo looked down at his feet. “I like spending time with you.” Sprout blushed.
“Y-You can stay! Until the cakes are cool, then you have to leave so I can decorate.” Sprout nervously reiterated what they both already knew. Cosmo chuckled, grabbing Sprout’s hand.
“Good.”
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It was go time. Cosmo was out of the kitchen, and Sprout was getting all of the decorations and tools out of the fridge and cabinets. Trim the cake. Cake plate. Pipe the border. Put in the filling. Top layer placed. Stripe the edges to look like Cosmo’s socks. Swirl on top to look like the side of his head. Star sprinkles placed just like his cheeks, smaller ones sprinkled on top just for good measure. Sprout took a step back, admiring his handiwork.
“Perfect,” he whispered. This would win Cosmo over for sure, if he wasn’t already won. He gently transferred the cake plate into a box, making sure not to mess up the decorations. Mission successful. Now to get it to where Cosmo was waiting—one of the picnic blankets just outside of the dining area. Through the kitchen, through the dining area, down the stairs, easy does it…
“There you are!” Cosmo smiled up at Sprout, walking over to him, box in hand. “You put it in an entire cake box, just to bring it over here?”
“I wanted to get the perfect reveal.” Sprout smiled back as he placed the box in front of Cosmo. They had already brought over utensils and plates, so it was just a matter of Sprout sitting down and Cosmo opening the box.
“Alright, alright…” Cosmo giggled, looking at Sprout the same way he did earlier. The way that made Sprout’s heart beat faster. Sprout sat right next to Cosmo, close enough that their legs were touching. “Let’s see this cake.”
Cosmo opened the box, and the world seemed to move in slow motion. He saw the decorations. The swirl, the sprinkles, the stripes. He said nothing for a second, mouth open in shock. Then his mouth formed a wide smile, as he turned to look at Sprout.
“It’s… amazing!” Cosmo wrapped his arms around Sprout, nuzzling into him. Sprout’s face heated up. “I love it.” The pastry let go, turning his attention back to the cake. “These sprinkles, did you make them yourself?” He picked one up, turning it in his hand.
“Dyle couldn’t find the right colors or size.” Sprout rubbed his arm. “So, yeah, I made them myself.”
“The effort you put into this… Oh my gosh…” Cosmo looked as though he were on the verge of tears. Sprout wanted to cup his cheek so badly, but he didn’t. Not yet. Not until the cake was cut. Which it was about to be. Cosmo picked up the knife, cutting a slice and gently dropping it onto a plate. “It has strawberries on the inside?”
“Yeah, because, um…” Now was the moment Sprout had been waiting for. “...Because I wanted to make something special that encapsulates how I feel about you. I… I want to be part of your life, but in a different way than I already am.” Sprout worked up the courage to look into Cosmo’s eyes as he spoke. “Cosmo, I really like you. As more than a friend, and I-”
Before Sprout could finish his sentence, Cosmo’s lips were on his, arms wrapped over his shoulders. His eyes widened for a moment as his best friend kissed him, before his brain caught up and he realized this was, in fact, the desired outcome. His confession had succeeded. Sprout closed his eyes and kissed back, reveling in the taste of Cosmo’s lips. He hadn’t even eaten any of the cake yet, but he tasted like chocolate anyway. They parted, staring into each other’s eyes.
“I really like you, too,” Cosmo whispered into the space between them.
“That was, um, a lot sooner than I expected that to happen.” Sprout chuckled, feeling his heart swell.
“Wanna do it again?”
“Yes, please.”
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The cake turned out just as Sprout had hoped. Rich, moist, and perfectly sweet. Well, if you had a sweet tooth, which Cosmo certainly did. He absolutely demolished his first slice, before going in for another.
“It’s my birthday, I can have all the cake I want.” Cosmo giggled, and Sprout couldn’t help but join in.
Yeah, this had gone perfectly.